The present invention is directed to a valve for use in water treatment systems where an input water can be diverted to optionally be treated more than one time. More particularly the input water can be subject to at least two purification steps or optionally to at least one purification step and at least one substance additive step, or two substance addition steps.
In most of the home water purification systems the water will undergo a single treatment step. This usually will be a water purification step. In such systems there is a valve with a set flow of water from a water source, such as a spout at a sink. At the spout water source there usually is a diverter valve where the water can be diverted and passed to the purification step or it can be flowed directly into the sink. The water would be flowed into the sink in the instances where the water would be used for cleaning purposes such as countertop, dish or pan or pot cleaning. Also the water would be flowed directly into the sink when the water would be used for watering plants. When for personal use, the water diverted to purification usually would be flowed to a single purification step and then to use. That is, the water is flowed directly from a purification step to use. These purification steps will remove particulates and various dissolved substances. These systems use a simple one part diverter valve. Such a one part diverter valve is used on the present water purification products available from Western Water International, Inc. of Forestville, Md. and available under the AQUASPACE trademark.
The present invention is directed to a water treatment system that besides having a water purification step, also optionally has an additional water treatment step. After the water flows through the water purification step it can be flowed directly to use or it can be flowed to an optional second treatment step. This optional second treatment step usually is in a series arrangement with the first purification step. Between the first step purification step and the second treatment step there is a T-junction valve. This T-junction valve is operated in conjunction with a unique primary diverter valve that is attached to a water source, such as a spout. This primary diverter valve besides having in a first part for flowing the source water directly to use or to a purification step, can in a second part receive diverted the water either from the water purification step or the water purification step and an additional water treatment step. The present system provides the versatility to flow water directly to use, flow the water to a purification step, or flow the water from the purification step to an additional water treatment step such as a substance addition step. In the second part of the diverter valve there is an input channel from the water purification step and separate input channel from the water treatment step such as a substance addition step. This second stage has a valve, such as a slider valve, with a plurality of inlet channels and an outlet channel. The outlet channel flows the water to ultimate use. The inlet channels are arranged to be in alignment either with the inlet from the water purification step or the inlet from the water treatment step such as a substance addition step. When in an alignment with the water purification step, water from the water purification step will flow through the second part of the diverter section and to the outlet channel for use. When in an alignment with a substance addition step, water from the substance addition step will flow through the second part of the primary valve and to the outlet channel for use. This two part primary valve provides for the versatility of having the water undergo a single or multiple treatment steps.